John Henry Irons witnesses yet another gang shooting gone wrong in his neighborhood of Suicide Slum. An innocent child is cut down for being in the wrong place at the wrong time while gangbangers fight over drug turf, but this shooting is different than the others. These gangbangers have high powered experimental weapons. Weapons that, in another lifetime, John Irons developed. Owing his life to Superman, Irons vows to get these dangerous new weapons off the streets of Metropolis and dons the identity of Steel to accomplish his mission.

This issue features a center-fold "The Man of Steel" poster of Steel by Jon Bogdanove and Dennis Janke.